The day at Froedtert began in the blood lab waiting room. For whatever reason, there was an extra-long wait today. That came in handy because it gave me a chance to do an extended session of 4-7-8 breathing. In for 4 … hold for 7 … out for 8. Repeat. I have been wavering between calm and anxious since Wednesday, so I just focused on breathing for a while. Then I watched the political ads on TV in the waiting room. I swear that back to back commercials for the presidential candidates each began with the same opening line, just with reversed names. That made me laugh. And then, because it’s 2020 politics, it made me want to do more relaxation breathing.

Eventually, they called for “Scott L.” I jumped to my feet and started heading to the door. Some other guy in the chair next to the door got up too and started heading in. I thought “That guy’s trying to take my spot,” and I started hustling to get through the door before it closed behind them. “I’m Scott L,” I shouted as I followed them down the hall and around a corner. “There are two Scott Ls today. This is the one I’m looking for.” I went back out to the waiting room. Sure enough. A couple of minutes later a new technician comes out and calls for “Scott L.” I stand up and she says, “Which one are you?” “The tall one,” I reply.

Kath and I then meet with our Medical Oncologist to get the results of Wednesday’s CT Scan and to discuss what the scan might indicate relative to next steps. He asks me how I’m doing. Wrong question because I’m honest with him and I give him a two-minute oration of all the things that have made it hard to be a cancer patient for the last two weeks … and there have been a lot. He says, “That sounds really stressful and I have good news,” and he proceeds to show us the blood lab work which looks good. White count, platelets, liver panel … everything. Then he moves on to the CT Scan of the abdomen from Wednesday. It shows no signs of cancer in the liver or the lymph nodes. More good news. The remaining mass in the lung–which had been reduced in size but was still active with cancer in the last PET Scan–is even smaller now but has not been completely eliminated. So, we’ve made more progress, but we have not eradicated the cancer from the lung … yet.

We are scheduled for an appointment with our Radiation Oncologist / Rower on Monday. The Medical Oncologist thinks she will recommend radiation treatment to the remaining mass in the lung, but he will let her decide as it’s her area of expertise and apparently, she often surprises him by reaching different conclusions than he expects. We’ll discuss the Radiation Oncologist’s recommendations Monday, but Kathleen has already made up her mind.

Make it rain harder.

At the appointment, I self-reported some pressure in my head that I have felt for almost a week. It’s unlikely that we are experiencing any cancer spread to the brain right now, but I will be having a brain MRI next Friday evening to get a fresh image of the area and make certain that the brain remains cancer-free as well.